I have two background statements, a little history, and my question.
1. I’ve been riding a CycleOps fluid trainer for about two years and have loved it. There’s nothing wrong with it and it has totally changed me as a rider. I’ve read and heard all about the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine and have wanted to try one. I didn’t want to spend the money when my CycleOps is working fine. I ran across a deal I couldn’t pass up and bought an older KK Road Machine (blue not green). I reasoned that it has a lifetime warranty, perfect power curve, looked near new, and for $80 how could I go wrong.
2. I’m doing The Time Crunched Cyclist program from Carmichael Training Systems. January, 2013, it will be a full year in the program, and I recommend it. January 2012 I took what CTS calls a field test and another the first week of October. In January I used a Garmin 305, cadence sensor, heart rate monitor, and the CycleOps. In October I did it with a Garmin 705, cadence sensor, heart rate monitor, and PowerTap. A friend and I were talking about training and he asked me what my power numbers were and my response was of course that I didn’t know. I train by heart rate (HR) and cadence. He wanted to know and asked if I would use his equipment, I wanted to know, and obliged.
I’m in a off period much like what you would do to build base miles. I’m scheduled to ride endurance miles (EM), one hour twice a week, and 2.5 hours on both Saturday and Sunday. Based on my October field test, my EM range should be 80-146 BPM HR, or 110-184w for a power range.
To me, these are very strange results.
Tuesday on CycleOps:
Average RPM, 92
Average Wattage, 163
Average MPH, 14.91
Average HR, 152
Gearing, 39/19
Wednesday on Kurt Kinetic:
Average RPM, 93
Average Wattage, 155
Average MPH, 16.57
Average HR, 142
Gearing, 39/17 I couldn’t believe how much smoother the KK was compared to the CycleOps. It was so smooth and easy I had to go down a gear from the night before. Also, it was quieter but I didn’t feel like I worked as hard, even going down a cog. I was completely thrown off by the difference in numbers and rate of perceived exertion. Tuesday I felt like I went a little too hard but Wednesday felt much better, almost not hard enough, even in a bigger gear and higher cadence. I normally find that my cadence falls toward the end of the hour. If it doesn’t, my HR climbs out of range.
I worried that something wasn’t calibrated properly. I thought about a simple test that might make me feel better about the numbers. I figured I could use the RPMs to see if the millage matched. So I used Sheldon Brown’s Gear Calculator to get a good approximation and the numbers seem about right if you adjust for the high RPM.
Gear Calculator:
Crank, 172.5
Chainring, 39
Cassette, 12-25
Tire, 700/23
RPM, 90
Results:
39/19, 14.4mph
39/17, 16.1mph
So my questions are, what causes this and should I redo my field test, or is one of the two trainers bad?
Thank you for your feedback.
1. I’ve been riding a CycleOps fluid trainer for about two years and have loved it. There’s nothing wrong with it and it has totally changed me as a rider. I’ve read and heard all about the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine and have wanted to try one. I didn’t want to spend the money when my CycleOps is working fine. I ran across a deal I couldn’t pass up and bought an older KK Road Machine (blue not green). I reasoned that it has a lifetime warranty, perfect power curve, looked near new, and for $80 how could I go wrong.
2. I’m doing The Time Crunched Cyclist program from Carmichael Training Systems. January, 2013, it will be a full year in the program, and I recommend it. January 2012 I took what CTS calls a field test and another the first week of October. In January I used a Garmin 305, cadence sensor, heart rate monitor, and the CycleOps. In October I did it with a Garmin 705, cadence sensor, heart rate monitor, and PowerTap. A friend and I were talking about training and he asked me what my power numbers were and my response was of course that I didn’t know. I train by heart rate (HR) and cadence. He wanted to know and asked if I would use his equipment, I wanted to know, and obliged.
I’m in a off period much like what you would do to build base miles. I’m scheduled to ride endurance miles (EM), one hour twice a week, and 2.5 hours on both Saturday and Sunday. Based on my October field test, my EM range should be 80-146 BPM HR, or 110-184w for a power range.
To me, these are very strange results.
Tuesday on CycleOps:
Average RPM, 92
Average Wattage, 163
Average MPH, 14.91
Average HR, 152
Gearing, 39/19
Wednesday on Kurt Kinetic:
Average RPM, 93
Average Wattage, 155
Average MPH, 16.57
Average HR, 142
Gearing, 39/17 I couldn’t believe how much smoother the KK was compared to the CycleOps. It was so smooth and easy I had to go down a gear from the night before. Also, it was quieter but I didn’t feel like I worked as hard, even going down a cog. I was completely thrown off by the difference in numbers and rate of perceived exertion. Tuesday I felt like I went a little too hard but Wednesday felt much better, almost not hard enough, even in a bigger gear and higher cadence. I normally find that my cadence falls toward the end of the hour. If it doesn’t, my HR climbs out of range.
I worried that something wasn’t calibrated properly. I thought about a simple test that might make me feel better about the numbers. I figured I could use the RPMs to see if the millage matched. So I used Sheldon Brown’s Gear Calculator to get a good approximation and the numbers seem about right if you adjust for the high RPM.
Gear Calculator:
Crank, 172.5
Chainring, 39
Cassette, 12-25
Tire, 700/23
RPM, 90
Results:
39/19, 14.4mph
39/17, 16.1mph
So my questions are, what causes this and should I redo my field test, or is one of the two trainers bad?
Thank you for your feedback.